Mary Ellen Klas, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Mary Ellen Klas is capital bureau chief for the Miami Herald and co-bureau chief of the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau. She is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and a graduate of the University of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn. Before she became bureau chief for the Herald in 2004, Mary Ellen was Tallahassee bureau chief for Florida Trend magazine and also served as a senior writer for the Palm Beach Post. She was bureau chief for the Palm Beach Post from 1990-94, after which she worked part time for 10 years while her daughters were young. She is married to John Kennedy, senior writer for the Palm Beach Post's Tallahassee bureau. They have two daughters.

Senate President Andy Gardiner opened the first legislative session of his two-year term with a promise to focus on one of the most difficult issues dividing Tallahassee's Republican leadership: Medicaid expansion.

The intractable issue has divided the House and Senate for three years as the House has refused to talk about expanding what it considers a dysfunctional Medicaid system and has rejected drawing down $50 billion in federal money from the Affordable Care Act. The Senate has been open to dialogue, advanced alternatives and been stymied by Gov. Rick Scott's who has chosen not to engage in the debate....

In Tampa Bay and Jacksonville, wagering on videos of "historical races" would be allowed as a new form of gambling. The seven casinos operated by the Seminole Tribe would also see expanded games as they could offer the full array of black jack, roulette and craps that are available to the resort casinos....

South Florida could become an even bigger gambling haven with two new destination resort casinos and four dog tracks operating slot machines -- instead of racing dogs -- under a sweeping gaming rewrite filed Monday by House Republican Leader Dana Young, R-Tampa.

The measure, filed in the traditionally gaming-averse House, takes a novel approach to gaming by requiring destination resort operators to buy out active gaming permits in order to operate the swanky casinos....

Florida prisons are becoming deadlier. More than 3,900 inmates in 68 prisons have died, some by unusual circumstances, since 2000. For the last year, the Miami Herald has investigated suspicious deaths reported to the Florida Department of Corrections, including a Dade Correctional Institution inmate who was found dead in a small, enclosed shower at the prison in June 2012. State data released last fall showed inmate deaths have increased by 40 percent in the last 15 years. And that number continues to rise....

The two DVDs were only minutes long but they depicted deplorable conditions in the state’s prison system: uninhabitable dorms, inmate-on-staff assaults and roofs that were so porous that prison staff rigged sheets of cardboard to serve as makeshift gutters....

TALLAHASSEE — The two DVDs were only minutes long but they depicted deplorable conditions in the state's prison system: uninhabitable dorms, inmate-on-staff assaults and roofs that were so porous that prison staff rigged sheets of cardboard to serve as makeshift gutters.

It was a vivid example of chronic underfunding and understaffing at the Florida Department of Corrections, and then-Secretary Michael Crews wanted to show them to legislators last year in his effort to make the case for more money....

With former Attorney General George Sheldon now named as the top welfare chief for the state of Illinois, he is being replaced as the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against Gov. Rick Scott alleging the governor failed to accurately and publicly disclose his finances....

TALLAHASSEE — Florida Republicans are ready to ditch the first-up status in the 2016 presidential preference primary and are drafting legislation to move the date back to the third Tuesday in March.

The bill, to be offered by Senate Ethics and Elections Committee Chairman Garrett Richter, R-Naples, is expected to set March 15, 2016, as the new primary date, moving it into compliance with Democrat and Republican party rules. It would also guarantee that Florida has a full complement of delegates for its native sons, former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, should either emerge victorious from the GOP contest, Richter told the Times/Herald....

Florida Republicans are ready to ditch the first-up status in the 2016 presidential preference primary and are drafting legislation to move the date back to the third Tuesday in March.

The bill, to be offered by Senate Ethics and Elections Committee Chairman Garrett Richter, R-Naples, is expected to set March 15, 2016, as the new primary date, moving it into compliance with Democrat and Republican party rules and guaranteeing that Florida has a full complement of delegates for its native sons former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, should one emerge from the GOP contest, Richter told the Herald/Times....

The lobbying team suited up to do battle this year to pass a single sentence into law to save the embattled tobacco industry millions of dollars is a virtual constellation of both new and old stars. All were selected for their unique ability to "enlighten" certain members. ...

TALLAHASSEE The powerful cigarette industry re-ignited Florida's tobacco wars Wednesday with a one-sentence bill that would strip away the right of thousands of Florida victims from collecting millions in damages.

The proposal by Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, would retroactively apply a 1999 cap on punitive damages to "all civil actions in which judgment has not been entered." It is aimed at snubbing 4,500 smokers and their families who have sued cigarette makers but are still awaiting trial over claims that the industry deceived them about the dangerous and addictive properties of cigarettes....

The powerful cigarette industry re-ignited Florida’s tobacco wars Wednesday with a one-sentence bill that would strip away the right of thousands of Florida victims from collecting millions in damages....

The constant volume of suspicious inmate deaths in Florida’s prisons prompted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Tuesday to ask legislators for 17 additional investigators and $2.3 million.

The money, which was not included in Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed budget, is needed to allow the agency to comply with a newly-updated agreement between FDLE and the Florida Department of Corrections, said Jennifer Cook Pritt, FDLE assistant commissioner....

TALLAHASSEE — A Senate committee gave preliminary approval Monday to a bill to create an independent commission to investigate wrongdoing in Florida's troubled prison system and increase sanctions against prison staffers accused of crimes.

The Senate Criminal Justice Committee voted unanimously for SB 2070, a wide-ranging attempt to reform the Florida Department of Corrections, which has been hit hard by reports of suspicious inmate deaths, allegations of cover-ups, and claims by whistleblowers that its chief inspector general has sabotaged investigations and ignored abuse of inmates....